According a personal account detailing her reasons for joining, a then 21-year-old Arthur said she "heard last week that enlistments for women in the Marines were open, so decided the only thing to do was to join."

Norris, who had broken his shoulder a week into training, was on a walk when he observed villagers executing spinning heel kicks and other moves.

"I was mesmerized by their incredible ability. I wanted to ask them what they were doing, but they looked very intense," he said. "So I returned to the base and described what I had seen to my judo instructor, Master Ahn. He said it was called Tang Soo Do. I told him that I'd love to try it, since I couldn't do judo with my injured shoulder."

By the time he left Korea, Norris had his black belt in Tang Soo Do and brown belt in judo.

Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley was drafted in December 1957, and entered into the United States Army in March 1958 — two years after his songs "Hound Dog" and "Heartbreak Hotel" hit the airwaves and turned an unknown Mississippi boy into America's King of Rock and Roll.

"The army can do anything it wants with me," he said. "Millions of other guys have been drafted, and I don't want to be different from anyone else."

Presley was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas before being deployed to the 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32d Armor in Friedberg, Germany. It was there that he met his future wife, Priscilla Beaulieu.

Montel Williams

Montel Williams enlisted in the U.S. Marines Corps in 1974. After graduating the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, he was appointed as a midshipman in the Navy.

Williams served as a cryptologic officer for naval intelligence in Guam, and in 1983 was transferred to the National Security Agency in Maryland. It was there that the then-lieutenant first began counseling his team and servicemens' families, a service that paved the way to further public speaking and "The Montel Williams Show."

When Williams left the Navy, he had received the Navy Achievement Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Navy Commendation Medal.

Montel continued to support sailors, marines and their families throughout his two decades on television, and was awarded The Department of the Navy Superior Public Service Award in 2008.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

In 1965, Arnold Schwarzenegger served in the Austrian Army — a service then required by all 18-year-old Austrian males.

As a young weight trainer, Schwarzenegger snuck out of camp for a week so he could take part in the Junior Mr. Europe contest. Though he won the competition's title, he was punished for leaving camp and had to spend a few days in military prison.

Sidney Poitier

After moving from the Bahamas to the United States as a teenager, Poitier had a hard time finding work and New York City's bitter winter temperatures were a drastic change of environment for the now Academy Award-winning actor.

So, in November 1943, at the ripe age of 16, he lied about his age and entered the Army.

Poitier served as a medical attendant at a mental hospital in New York, but eventually grew tired of Army life. Instead of admitting his real age, he faked insanity, though he eventually came clean upon threat of shock treatments.

After talking to a psychiatrist for several weeks, Poitier was eventually granted release from the Army.

Mel Brooks

"...I was 17 and the army came there and they took one look at me and they said, Melvin, you're our guy. They issued a test, the army specialized training reserve program test. If you pass this test, I think it was like how much is one and one, you know?" he said. "And I nearly failed because I said, well, side by side they're 11, but they took me anyway."

Thereafter, he attended the Army Specialized Training Program at the Virginia Military Institute.

He served in the United States Army as a corporal during World War II, a service that had him defusing land mines and fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.

Alan Alda

Long before Alan Alda had the fictional role as Hawkeye Pierce in "M*A*S*H," a CBS series about a team of medical staff stationed at a surgical hospital in South Korea during the Korean War, he had his own personal military experience.

After serving in Fordham University's Reserve Officers' Training Corps, he found his way into the Army Reserve, where he was deployed for six months.

Alda later spoke toSouthern Connecticut State University about his stint in the military, saying, "They had designs of making me into an officer but, uh ... it didn't go so well. I was in charge of a mess tent. Some of that made it into the show [M*A*S*H]."

Henry Kissinger

Fleeing Nazi persecution, Kissinger moved from Germany to Manhattan with his family to Manhattan. Five years later, he became a naturalized US citizen and was drafted into the army to fight the same regime.

As Biography.com reports, Kissinger served as a rifleman in France and a G-2 intelligence officer in Germany. After the war, he was admitted to Harvard University.

Steve McQueen

However, the "King of Cool" didn't do well taking orders. He was promoted and demoted numerous times and spent 41 days in the brig for one infraction.

Later on, however, McQueen proved his courage by saving five men from drowning after an Arctic training exercise turned dangerous. For his heroics, he was allowed to take part in US president Harry Truman's honor guard.